as simple as abc

abc is a form of notation developed by Chris Walshaw as an easy way of writing and storing tunes. Folkies seem to be the predominant group that use this notation here is a typical abc tune

X: 1
T: Woman Of The House, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
DBBA B2BA|GABd eBdB|(3ABA GB A2(3Bcd|eB(3BAB eBdB|
DBBA B2BA|GABd eBdB|GABG (3ABA GA |BGAG EGD2:||
f2fd edBd|edge dABd|f2fd edBd|eaag ea(3aba|
f2fd edBd|g2ge dcBA|GABG (3ABA GA |BGAG EGD2:||

A friend of mine was trying to send me a version of Colliers reel by email but the computer would not accept that it was legitimate text and tried to treat it as junk and wouldn't send it. To be fair it was Yahoo and not the computer hardware that was at fault. Perhaps it didn't understand the language!

111

We took the boys bowling. They all brought a friend

But it was me that triumphed when it came to the end

I notched up a score that was difficult to beat

Amongst the lights and the noise and the heat

Not one single strike was I able to down

Consistency was my route to the crown



Then we came home and ate home baked chelsea buns and a nice cup of tea

Winterton beach

Marriage time this week should have been easy to find as we are on holiday but somehow we managed to avoid spending too much time together. We have been following a programme called the Marriage Course through church. We are the guinea pigs as our church ( Norwich Central Baptist) is thinking of adopting the course and wants to find out what a select small group think - select in what way I'm not sure... Select because they are wise and objective - unlikely. Select because their marriage is currently on the verge of meltdown - not that I'm aware of. Select because one of the partners is a member of the leadership - most probably.

Anyway as part of the course we have to spend at least two hours a week doing 'marriage time'. This must be a fun time spent together. Today we went to Winterton beach with the dog. I watched a trio of ringed plover taking part in a courtship display. It was interesting as I wasn't aware that ringed plover went in for lekking ( ie more than one male present) or that they used the drop wing behaviour in courtship. I thought this was only to distract a predator away from the nest-site. On the way out of Winterton we noticed a number of birders armed with telescopes and stopped to ask 'owt about?'. I decided to forgo the bluethroat and opt instead for a very pleassant lunch at the Bridge Inn Acle.

What do you think of the photo complete with pawprints - I was rather pleased with it.

Yellows

No oven chips or tinned mince, just a pleasant atmosphere and some very tasty food. We were impressed by the price too

"Yellows is Norwich's New York style diner

Delia Smith has a big hand in Yellows so you can be assured that the freshest quality ingredients are sourced locally where possible and the food, from easy-over brunches to full-on feasts, is made to her exacting standards. Come along and try out the freshest restaurant in Norwich that everyone is talking about! Yellows is soon to be featured on Delia’s new TV series on BBC Two."

What's more there was a reserves game on and we were even given preferential parking treament

Chicken run

It was quite a surprise to wake up to a reasonable covering of snow. We took Rosie to Earlham Park where she did a lot of chasing snow balls. The dirty smudge on her face is thanks to me hitting her with a muddy tennis ball! I decided to spend the afternoon extending out chicken run so that we can accommodate more chickens. I did contact a rescue chickens website and came to the conclusion that there are a considerable number of chickens being rescued on a regular basis - the sooner we stop the practice of battery chickens the better. Anyway we may have to wait a while for any as we might not be able to get to a 'handover' point on the M6 or wherever at 3am or whenever the next bout of 'liberating' occurs. As TV mirrors real life we then watched the film 'chicken run' and I felt guilty about having dispatched and eaten our cockerels.

Barn Owl

We watched a fabulous barn owl quartering fields adjacent to the cycle path yesterday afternoon. Despite the regular snow and hail showers the owl seemed content to enjoy what little sunshine was around in the pursuit of small mammals. Talking of small mammals I set a humane mouse trap in the polytunnel to catch the little buggers which are eating their way through the chicken's corn. I crept down the garden just after dark and heard a rustling in the corn sack. The sack has two layers and I saw a little tail sneek through a hole between the innner and outer layers of the sack. On opening up the middle section there were 5 sets of small beady house mouse eyes staring up at me. I didn't have the heart to bother them and left them to nibble to away in the freezing conditions. I've removed the trap.

Mad Spanish Circus

I emailed my friends Uli who makes electric fiddles and he thoroughly recommends the skyinbow system so it looks as if I'll need to fork out the money. Uli is currently in Spain and sent me the URL for his latest project which is called circpanic and can be found at www.circpanic.com It is some of the maddest street entertainment I've seen in a while and lots of fun. Here is a photo of the metal contraption which the whole show seems to orientate about. Its a tiny photo so it might be very unclear. I'm wondering if we shouldn't try and incorporate some showmanship into our gigs - maybe not!

Pick-ups

Apparently Chris, the sound man at The Shed, has suggested, rather heavily, that I should get a pick-up for my fiddle. It turns out that he has to turn my mic up so high it affects the balance of the other mics. Oh bugger I said to myself. So I decided to contact Tim Phillips who made my original fiddle and ask his advice. It turns out he's selling a pick-up by Skyinbow - a Shetland based electric fiddle maker. The problem is the price - £199! Yikes I thought to myself. This is a little more than I had in mind. I need to think carefully about this one. It would be great to have a pick-up which faithfully translates the acoustic qualities of the instrument rather than that harsh sound which eletric fiddles often have.

We watched Dog Borstall this evening as a border collie was on. The animal in question was called Ellie and was hyperactive. She needs stimulation and was much faster than her owner at picking things up - a trait that was commented on by the trainer. We had better take note when dealing with our own collie. We took Rosie to Hevingham Woods today. I hope she found the experience stimulating enough. It was certainly wet enough. Ben fell over in the mud and I nearly wet myself laughing. Unfortunately I wasn't expected to repsond in this way and he nearly went mardy and walked off. We made up soon enough and had a very pleasant stroll between cloudbursts.

The unexpected

I had a lesson observation done today. I wasn't particularly bothered but it was with a difficult year 9 group and I was prepared to be fairly assertive. In the event the presence of someone strange in the room had a soporific effect on the pupils. Some of them wanted to know why there was someone strange in the room and the rest seemed to be more attentive than usual. It wasn't that the observer had any obvious interactions with the class other than to chat with the odd one on an informal basis but the impact overall was quite noticeable. I think a good teacher has a sense of the class. I know immediately there is someone new in the room or a certain student is present. I suppose we must all act in a similar way in the presence of our peers but I wonder if we would recognise this?

My new phone

Well the fishing season may be over until June 16th but I have a new phone! Actually it is a cast off from my youngest son. At the moment I can only just about make a call with it but have no idea how to answer so lets hope I find out soon. The level of technology involved is amazing.

I went to my art class this evening and painted a scene from a Norfolk landscape. You know the sort of thing - derelict water mill and reeds- a bit cliche but I thought it might work. It all got a bit out of hand though and my simple atmospheric scene became an example of a force 9 storm and the contrast of colours seems to encourage the frenetic mood of the picture. I'd post an image of it but its still wet and will probably remain so for a couple of weeks as I did it in thick oils.

I have a picture hanging in the cafe at Gressenhall rural life museum at the moment which is also apparently wet. I finished it last Monday and it was hung on Sunday. Its called Wensum in Winter so the idea of a wet painting is really rather apt.

Back to the phone.... My son got the phone from a friend of ours who lives in Manchester. He dropped it down the toilet and it won't turn off. Seeing as I can't use the thing anyway I'd say this was the least of my worries.

I finished Stanleys jig by the way and am quite proud of my first ever tune.

Palm Sunday

We played a gig at the shed in Norwich this afternoon - here's a picture of the shed. It looks a bit empty in the picture but I was pleased to see that the place was heaving this afternoon. We played a set of gigs at the end of the afternoon which starts with a tune called palm sunday. This evening we are watching the BBC dramatisation of The Passion and I've just watched the bit where Jesus is buying the Donkey on which to ride into Jerusalem. He instructs his disciple to give the man whatever he wants for the animal. Jesus was only interested in fulfilling the prophesy and not in how much it would cost. I often think we are too preoccupied with money and forget about the wider implications of following Jesus.

Where do you get your hog?

I made a carbonara sauce to go with our pasta this evening. I followed exactly the same recipe as the last time I made it but somehow the sauce lacked flavour. I even got out the bacon wrapper to check that it was smoked and therein lies the problem - whilst the bacon was indeed smoked and did indeed come from the stable of Sainsbury's 'Taste the difference' range ( as opposed to the 'Lacking in taste range') it still does not hold a candle to Mr Pickerings finest smoked back. I remain appalled that people still buy bacon which appears to boil in the pan rather than fry and at 2 packsfor £5 are surprised that there is no decent flavour. So I apologise to Mr Pickering for not making the pilgrimage to Old Costessey recently, a situation which will be remedied before the next concoction of eggs, cream, bacon and parmesan cheese.

Less is more

We had a band practice this evening as we are playing The Shed on Sunday afternoon as part of the St Patrick Day celebrations. We have been messing around with different arrangements, especially as we now have Leon the piper in the band. What we discovered this evening is that the contrast between a complex and a simple arrangement has far more impact than a straightforward loud or complex tune - obvious really but it was nice to hear it in action. We also took the same tune 'Jim Wards and played it in two different keys as part of the same set and it actually sounds like two distinct tunes. Perhpas I can apply similar principles to my own life and enjoy contrasts rather than everything having to be 'full-on' all the time.

Women are the better drivers

I took some students to the go-kart track at Ellough near Beccles today. As we had enough for two groups with 12 boys in the first group and 11 girls in the second. I joined the girls group to even up the numbers. I was amazed by the driving of the girls group. Not only did they have far fewer crashes and spin-offs they also raced at the same speed as the boys and with the same determination. Everyone enjoyed the visit and we capped it off with a trip to MacDonalds for lunch. This was a reward trip for students that have performed well in their recent mock exams. I will never knock women drivers again ( not that I did before!).